1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric junction box mounted for example to a motor vehicle as a moving body. The present invention also relates to a power supply device having the above-described electric junction box.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, for example in an electric vehicle propelled by an electric motor or a hybrid vehicle propelled by a combination of an internal-combustion engine and an electric motor, various power supply devices are applied as a power supply device for the electric motor. The power supply device of this kind is provided with a battery assembly having a plurality of batteries connected to each other in series and an electric junction box which outputs electric power, the electric power being temporary supplied from the battery assembly, to an inverter as external electric equipment via a relay (refer for example to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-96861 and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-311755).
The above-described electric junction box includes: a box main body having a component mounting portion to which an electric component such as a relay is mounted and a connector engagement portion with which a connector for activating the relay is engaged; and a wiring unit received inside of the box main body and electrically connecting the relays and the connector according to a predetermined pattern.
The box main body includes a lower case and an upper case attached to the lower case and having the component mounting portions and the connector engagement portion. The lower case and the upper case are attached to each other in an overlapping relationship so as to receive thereinside the wiring unit.
The wiring unit includes a plurality of bus bars made of conductive metal. The bus bar is constituted of conductive metal that has been subjected to punching and bending to be formed into a band-plate-like shape having a predetermined pattern. Some of the bus bars include a mount portion to be mounted at the lower case and a terminal portion extending perpendicularly from the mount portion and to be positioned inside of the connector engagement portion.
The above-described electric junction box is assembled such that the wiring unit is received inside of the box main body. Then the connector is engaged with the connector engagement portion and the relays are mounted to the component mounting portions. The assembled electric junction box is then mounted to the battery assembly to be mounted to the vehicle.